I know many anticipated the mount feature but I would immediately ask for a turn-off switch on our private server for any speed mounts. Speed Mounts in every game I’ve played with them make the game worse.
-They make the world smaller, which is always bad when trying to keep every area relevant.
-They allow players to skip content and/or challenges. If you add mounts, you will HAVE to add npc’s on mounts to keep up otherwise people will easily ignore them. Same with wildlife, they will need a speed increase to keep up which means more work.
-If you add mounts in a realistic summoning system it will be a constant nuisance to keep alive as it follows you into battles or when you navigate terrain.
-If you add mounts after all the coding for npc attacks are finished you have to update them to remain relevant to mount speed otherwise they will never be able to land an attack.
Now I do think they could add mounts in 2 forms, 1 that is widely talked about and another that was “promised” long ago.
===Pack mules: Slow moving animals with the ability to carry extra loot. Whether you want to gather extra resources before returning home or want to transport goods from one base to another in bulk. Selection would include Donkey(T1), Camels(T2) Elk(T2), Elephant(T3) Mammoth(T3).
=Drawbacks included:
-All animals need food and water to survive once taken out of their holding pen/post. Depending on tier, they need more. Plant fiber is the cheap source and an upgraded recipe (Animal feast) being slightly better at fueling them. Alternatively you can walk them towards a bush and they will “harvest” it by consuming the plant. As for water, all animals have a built in watering jug on their pack which will need to be filled occasionally. Depending on the animal, they store and consume water at different amounts. Taking them to a body of water you can also command them to drink and refill both their water needs and the jug. The purpose of this feature is to keep players from always using T3 animals for harvesting and use them for large transportation of goods from base to base. T2 will be common for higher levels.
-Animals are affected by temperature. Depending on the region, you will want to use the corresponding animal otherwise they can start to take damage and die. T1 is for beginners so it will have the basic temperature capability of the desert where it isn’t scolding, and the north where it isn’t snowing. This is so aesthetically people don’t bring animals to regions that don’t make sense, like a mammoth in the desert.
===Seige Beasts: Large armored beasts intended for use in warfare. Taking a long time to train and having a short life span, once released from their post can be commanded to take on heavy damage and put it right back to structures and other beasts. Selection would include Hyena(Spot/Stripe)(T1) Wolf(Dire/Grey)(T1), Bear(Black/Brown)(T2) Gorilla(T2) Kappa(Green/Red)(T2), Rhino(Grey/Black/White)(T3).
=Drawbacks included:
-Take a long time to train, also anything T2 or T3 will require a “Pack mule” mount of equal tier to carry back to your base. Knocking them out also will be drastically scaled up depending on tier so bring friends.
-Can only have 1 siege beast follow you at any given time, which will act like a thrall following you so you cannot have both.
-Once released from post, depending on their tier and quality of training(depends on thrall tier who trains at post) they cannot be put back in the post and have an expiration timer. The timer gets turned off once the beast is released to attack the enemy/base or if they die before then. Once released from following to attack mode they have a new timer started which will keep them “Friendly” towards you and your allies. After this timer if they are still alive, they are returned to their natural state and can be recaptured or killed off.
===Faction: Through various side quests, trades, hunting and commitment other factions once allied start to offer war assistance in the form of mercenaries and beasts (if they have any to offer). Starting with small groups (5?) of T1 guards to larger raids (10?) of T3 guards (set limit per tier) or alternatively bringing a small group of their beasts to follow you into battle. The Dogs of the Desert can offer a group (3?) of werewolves which have the ability to climb(They have an internal cooldown of 15 seconds after being knocked off a wall before they will attempt to do it again. This is to prevent them from climbing an unclimbable wall over and over). The Frost giants have only 1 hire option for a group (3?) of their giants who have a lot of damage and health.
=Drawbacks included:
-You lose a very small amount of faction respect for each of their recruitments’ deaths. The total amount will not turn the faction against you but you will have to work back up their respect before you can rehire anymore.
-Long cooldown on this hiring ability across all factions. You will not be able to go from faction to faction if you fail to raid. Cooldown in the area of about 48 hours.
-Similar to siege beasts, all faction groups have a timer of following you, but have no secondary timer. They stop when they die or the enemy does. This ofcourse means you won’t want to stop until they do.
-Also similar to siege beasts, you cannot have a thrall or beast follow you with these faction recruitments. This is to keep the purpose strategic in your attack and not overwhelm the enemy (likely offline) with an easy pve win. Different clan mates can of course coordinate this between each other.
-Faction beasts, despite their size, cannot deal structural damage above the highest grade weapon that players can. They are intended for other beasts and humanoids.
===Siege: Either in the form of ammo or machines, these are offered exclusively by factions. They are crafted by the respective faction engineer who require a vast amount of resources to create and also come with a very long cooldown between crafting. These siege methods include:
-Black Hand(Cannon on wheels, comes with many (15?) shots)
-Relic Hunters(Basket of snakes (15?), these replace explosive jars in both the placeable and trebuchet ammo form. Each basket releases several (7?) snakes upon breaking or being tipped over)
-Darfari Cannibals(Blood Jars (9?), replacing both the placeable and trebuchet explosive jar these use ritualized blood to release a field of corruption in a large area of effect once spilled or broken. Possession of these jars causes corruption to the holder.
-Heirs of the North(Battering Ram, with the high strength of the northern forests they can craft a powerful battering ram which deals massive damage to doors (light damage to walls). The ram comes with a roof to help protect the thralls sent to push the machine from arrows.
Forgotten Tribe(Jar of bones(2), this jar replaces the trebuchet or placeable exploding jar, releasing 3 skeletons with heavy armor, and 2H weapons. These knights attacks cause intense corruption if they hit you and can be launched over walls. Possession of these jars causes corruption to the holder.
-Dogs of the Desert and Frost giants are excluded since they offer beasts.
=Drawbacks Include
-All of these jars and machines come with an expiration timer (2h?). Once collected from the faction’s engineer/alchemist their timer begins.
-Cannot craft another machine for 72 hours, independent from each faction.
-The machines come out in the form of a kit so you can build the machine out in the field to cut down the travel time. The weight however is tremendous so plan accordingly.